History Chapter 14& 15

What were some of the push and pull factors that brought immigrants to the U.S. during the mid-1800s?

Push - starvation; poverty; lack of political freedom / Pull - jobs; greater freedom and equality; abundant land

In which regions did U.S. cities grow the most during the mid-1800s? Why?

The Industrial Revolution led to the creation of many new jobs in American cities, and these jobs attracted people from other nations and rural areas of the U.S. The Transportation Revolution helped bring people to the cities. Cities in the northeastern and Middle Atlantic states grew the most.

What urban problems developed as a result of rapid growth of cities in the mid-1800s?

Overcrowding, unsafe housing, lack of public services, epidemics, crime, and fire danger were problems that affected American cities in the mid-1800s.

What was transcendentalism?

Transcendentalism was the belief that people could transcend, or rise above, material things in life.

What was the Romantic movement?

Romanticism involved a great interest in nature, an emphasis on individual expression, and a rejection of many established rules. Artists in the Romantic movement expressed ideas like the beauty and wonder of nature, emotion, individualism, democracy, and history.

What was the Second Great Awakening, and how did it contribute to social reform?

The Second Great Awakening was a Christian renewal movement. Renewed religious faith may have led people to want to help others and improve society.

What social reforms were happening in the early and mid-1800s?

Social reforms during this period included temperance (urging people to use self-discipline to stop drinking hard liquor), prison reform, and education reform (including special needs and women's education, and education for African Americans).

How did reform efforts improve access to education?

In the common-school movement, people wanted all children taught in a common place, regardless of background. In addition, women, people with special needs, and free African Americans received greater opportunities for education.

How did educational opportunities for African Americans differ across the nation?

In the North and Midwest, free African Americans had some opportunities to attend school; but few in the South had this

chance because of laws that barred most enslaved people from getting any education, even at the primary school level.

What were some of the reasons the abolitionists opposed slavery?

Some reasons abolitionists opposed slavery were because of religious beliefs or the Declaration of Independence (as the American Revolution had been fought in the name of liberty).

What did William Lloyd Garrison do?

published an antislavery newspaper; helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society

What did Frederick Douglass do?

delivered firsthand experience of slavery in powerful writings and speeches; published the North Star

What did Sojourner Truth do?

gave dramatic speeches

What did Harriet Tubman do?

led hundreds of slaves to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad

What was the Underground Railroad?

The Underground Railroad was a network of people who arranged transportation and hiding places for fugitives, or escaped slaves. Traveling at night and resting at stations during the day, conductors led fugitives north on the Underground Railroad.

What did Congress do to block abolitionists?

To block abolitionists, Congress used a gag rule to ban talk of antislavery petitions.

What were reasons that some Americans opposed equality for African Americans?

Some Americans opposed equality for African Americans because they held racist attitudes, feared losing jobs, and/or saw slavery as vital to the South's economy.

What was the Seneca Falls Convention? Why was it important?

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first public meeting about women's rights held in the United States. Using the language of the Declaration of Independence as their basis, the convention organizers wrote a Declaration of Sentiments, which detailed beliefs about social injustice toward women.

What limitations were there on women's rights?

Women lacked the right to vote; they had limited educational opportunities; and they experienced pay inequalities. Married women also lost control of money and property.

Why did many Americans oppose equal rights for women?

Many Americans thought women and men were equal just different; women should focus on the home; and women lacked the physical and mental strength to cope with some things.

How did the Wilmot Proviso differ from popular sovereignty?

Popular sovereignty is the idea that political power belongs to the people - including the slavery decision. However, the

Wilmot Proviso was a document meant to eliminate slavery within the land gained as a result of the Mexican-American War.

What were some of the key points of the Compromise of 1850?

California entered the Union as a free state; the rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into two territories where the

question of whether to allow slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty; and a new fugitive slave law was established.

What was the purpose of the Fugitive Slave Act?

The Fugitive Slave Act made it a crime to help runaway slaves and allowed officials to arrest those slaves in free states.

What were the main points of the Kansas-Nebraska Act? Why did it receive support? Why was it opposed?

The Kansas-Nebraska Act divided the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, which would use popular sovereignty for the question of slavery. In addition, the act eliminated the Missouri Compromise's restriction on slavery north of the 36°30' line. Support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act was that it gave the people the power; opposition to it was that it allowed the expansion of slavery.

What were some immediate results of the act?

Antislavery and pro-slavery groups rushed their supporters to Kansas to influence elections. The new legislature had a hugepro-slavery majority, which passed strict laws in favor of slavery. In protest, anti-slavery Kansans formed their own legislature.

What were some of the results of the intense division in Kansas?

Two opposing governments were formed in Kansas. / Kansans became angry. / Violence broke out in Kansas (such as John Brown's Pottawatomie Massacre) and in Congress (such as the caning of Charles Sumner).

What political party emerged in 1854? Why?

The Republican Party was a political party united against the spread of slavery in the West

Why was the Dred Scott decision significant?

The major rulings of the Dred Scott decision were: African Americans (whether slave or free) were not citizens under the U.S. Constitution and therefore had no access to federal courts; Scott's residence on free soil did not make him free; and the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery north of 36˚30' was unconstitutional (which opened all the territories to slavery). The Dred Scott case was a setback to abolitionist efforts, particularly in stopping the expansion of slavery.

What were the Lincoln-Douglas debates?

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated each other in hopes of winning the Illinois Senate seat. Lincoln made

slavery's expansion the central issue of the Lincoln-Douglas debates because he wanted to expose Douglas's role in the

Kansas-Nebraska Act and emphasize the Democrats' support of the spread of slavery.

How did the southern states respond to the election of 1860, and why?

Some southern states seceded from the Union because they believed the election of 1860 showed that they had lost power and that Abraham Lincoln's views on slavery would lead to its end.

In his inaugural address, what view did Abraham Lincoln express regarding secession?

While Lincoln believed that U.S. citizens had the power to change their government through majority consent, he opposed the idea that southern states could leave the Union because they were unhappy with the government's position on slavery.

What factors built toward the American Civil War?

The failure of the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 - along with the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision - led to political battles, sectional differences, "Bleeding Kansas," and the Lincoln-Douglas debates. At the center of all the conflict was the issue of the spread of slavery.